.01 [ action | video ] have we lost our way back home

[watermarks]

Who: Katara and you!
Broadcast: Video, from the Marsiva
Action: Action on the Marsiva and then then post!Shuffle on the Vanquish
When: Friday, 3/23

[Katara wasn’t always a heavy sleeper, but she never did enjoy waking up. It was a slow process, even here, as if her subconscious had already registered the wrongness of where she was and was well on its way to the land of Denial.

Eventually, though - her eyes opened. And she stayed very, very still as fear replaced sleep in an adrenaline spike sharp enough to make her stomach heavy. Okay. Okay. She still had her bending, in fact, that was at full force for the first time since the last draft, she can feel water in a distant room. But these lights… those walls… that… well, actually, she kind of likes the music, but she can’t -- this is definitely not…

And then she feels it - or she doesn’t feel it - and she forgets her caution and bolts upright, straining her head to take a closer look at her back.]

[She doesn’t expect a response, but she does get up out of the bed and glance around. Her balance is off when she moves, so she takes careful, deliberate steps, as she takes stock of what she has and doesn’t have and exactly where everything is in the room and pauses as the fact that there is music seeps in. What... what is going on here?

But that’s nothing when she spots the viewing bay. She pauses, transfixed for a moment, and then walks very carefully over to the window. She places one hand against it and whispers:] ...there are stars.

[As she spends more time on the Marsiva, she’ll explore the food and take advantage of the exercise equipment, doing what she can to try to get her balance to where it should be without the added (useless; she tells herself she’s glad they’re gone) appendages.]

[ Video Broadcast while on the Marsiva ]
[Serious blue eyes peer out in stark contrast to dark skin as a girl of about eighteen addresses the fleet.]

Hello, my name is Katara. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, but I've spent the past four years [Had it really been that long? Her expression flickers for a moment.] in a place called Luceti. I understand a... lot of basic information about this place from the augment, but I'm sure there's more to this place than just what is implanted in our heads by our captors.

[Frowning, angry at that, needing to take a visible breath before she can continue.] I'd appreciate any additional information you feel it's safe to give out over these things. And... [Her gaze drops for a moment before she regains her composure and looks back at the camera.] ...if anyone knows the name Luceti, or has heard of the Southern Water Tribe, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know about that too.

[She manages a brief smile.] Thank you so much.


[Action on the Vanquish]
[Katara had been working on her balance on a make-shift balance-beam in the gym section of the Marsiva when she was suddenly teleported -- fortunately close enough to grab a wall. She bats at the confetti with a frown with her other hand as she straightens -- so this is the ‘shuffle’, huh?

The happy little jingle just makes her frown deepen. Jerks, playing with people like this… She gives a deeply exasperated sigh.

Hopefully no one is there to catch frustrated!Katara as their first impression; she will try to make a better second one by exploring the ship, sticking close to the walls, and looking to see who her new shipmates are with a pleasant smile on her face in a few minutes. Feel free to catch her walking around with a smile in a moment or two, but right now, she is having a few mental words with the Atroma and they are Not Nice.]

Comments

[therewerefifty]

A place called Edo, Japan. Have you heard of it?

[Probably not, but she likes to ask.]

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Oh, Edo is in Japan? [Or - is Japan? Hadn't Manji said... hmm. But first, something more important!] I had some good friends who were from Japan. Masaomi - but, he was from a Japan with cars and skyscrapers [and by your outfit, she doesn't think you are, in fact it reminds her of nothing so much as... and her whole face softens a little:] and Ginko. He was a mushishi.

[A term Makie would probably recognize if they were from the same version of Japan, she thinks.]

[therewerefifty]

[Recognition lights her face.]

I've read history books for Japan. [It was one of the first things she did, trying in vain to find some mention of Kagehisa and his quest to reshape Japan.] Your friend Masaomi is likely from my future. Ochako-chan is from there also; she's a passenger here.

...I'm not familiar with mushishi. [Mushi-shi? Master of ...mushi? That doesn't narrow it down.]

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[She nods.] He's probably not from your version of Japan, then. That seems like it happens a lot with Earth countries.

[She doesn't recognize the name 'Ochako', but she understands what Makie is saying.] I met someone else on this ship from Edo. Manji. Do you know him?

[therewerefifty]

[At once, her expression turns wry. That's probably a yes, huh.]

I do, though not well. We are from the same place, but... we're not close.

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[YUP, Katara sees that expression. But after the outcome of her conversation with Manji, EVEN THOUGH HE CALLED HER A WITCH, she's able to focus on something else.]

He's... really concerned about getting back home. He wanted me to check with my brother to make sure time stops -- it does, right?

[Since, she's been here too, so she'd know.]

[therewerefifty]

Yes. In more ways than one. Nobody ages here.

[You're gonna be 18 forever, Katara.]

Did he say why he was so concerned?

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[She doesn't know if what Manji told her was confidential. It didn't seem like it. But if Makie didn't know, and they knew each other... Katara was uncertain about how much she should share.]

There was someone he had to protect. [She glances down at her tea, waiting for the steam to pass.] A girl. He was pretty upset about it.

[therewerefifty]

[She considers that a moment. Rin could very well be in trouble right at the last, but Manji doesn't remember the dock fight. And Rin was there.]

Perhaps I can reassure him in that regard, as well. [Manji is someone she offers respect to, but their personalities are like oil and water. But Rin, she has a soft spot for.]

Nothing will happen to her while he is here, certainly.

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That would probably be a good thing, if you can let him know. You know how it is when we first get to places like this... [No one is doing enough, nothing has ever been tried in order to get home, someone please show me the person I need to ice to a wall to fix all this, because surely it is Just That Simple.] ...and it's even harder to deal with if you're worried about something you have to do when you get home.

[therewerefifty]

I will see if he understands. [God knows it took her long enough to get her mind around this place. She remembers, suddenly, Leia walking in while she was staring helplessly at the showers.]

Did he give you any trouble?

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[He called me a witch!

But that was unimportant, really.] No, not really.

[She gives a small smile.] Thank you for asking, though.

[therewerefifty]

[The worst Manji would do to a young girl like Katara is just kind of. Be a dick. So Makie doesn't pursue it, glancing down to her tea again.]

You seem to have taken to this environment well.

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I was in a place like this before... [although, that does raise a question.] ...actually, maybe you could do me a small favor? I don't have the wings that the last place put on me, but it put another mark on us too...

[She turns around and lifts up her hair to expose the back of her neck. The bar code tattoo is still there, but she hasn't been able to tell, there aren't the right kind of mirrors.] Is it still there?

[therewerefifty]

[Genuine startlement crosses her expression for a moment there. Wings? But she puts her tea down, leaning forward obligingly to inspect Katara's neck.

She doesn't know what a barcode is, but--]

There are lines there.

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Oh, okay. [She's... a little upset about this, but in a way it's kind of - reassuring to have proof that it happened. While at the same time it makes her wonder if this is an experiment as well.

Oh well, the only way out is through.

She lets her hair fall back down and turns around with a small smile.] Thank you, Makie.

[therewerefifty]

[She gives a thoughtful hum, retreating back to pick her cup up.]

Is it a brand?

[watermarks]

Kind of? It's not a burn, though, it's a tattoo. [She frowns, not liking how... helpless this made her sound, to be marked like this... but then... they had been.] The... scientists who ran the place where I used to be gave them to everyone before we were put behind a barrier. I think they were used for identification and tracking, although we were never sure.

[therewerefifty]

[Makie's hand strays up to touch on the tiny raised area near the back of her own neck.]

It seems to be a thing these places have in common.

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[Katara's gaze follows Makie's motion, and concern washes over her features.]

The augments, you mean?

[therewerefifty]

Yes.

Adstringendum-- didn't have such tracking, I believe. But Adstringendum wasn't a deliberate kidnapping.

[watermarks]

[Her brow furrows.]

It wasn't? So - was it the world that pulled you in?

[But no one was in charge?]

[therewerefifty]

More or less. There was some kind of accident of science, and cracks appeared in that universe. People and places were pulled into its immediate location over time.

[watermarks]

[She just stares at Makie for a moment.

Then she becomes aware that she's staring, and shakes her head a little sheepishly.]

I'm sorry -- it's just so strange to hear something so similar and so different. In Luceti, there was something wrong with the world -- it pulled people in. We were kept in the enclosures by people who'd been stuck there for hundreds of years. So it's -- strange to hear that... there are so many places out there in the universe that cause these... 'cracks.'

[It makes her wonder just how many others there are like that out there.]

[therewerefifty]

[Hmm.] There were no enclosures, as such, but the further you went from the centre of the area, the more unstable the landscape became.

There are theories, of course, that all of these places are connected in some way.